Hillary Clinton said Friday that the unemployment rate under President Obama, which dropped to its lowest point in May since 2007, was “disappointing.”
“The numbers that have come out this week are disappointing to anybody, because we want to keep jobs growing,” Clinton said during an appearance on CNN’s The Lead. “We want the unemployment rate, which did drop again, to be reflective of a tighter labor market, not people leaving.”
The unemployment rate in May fell to 4.7 percent, down three-tenths of a percentage point from April, as more people left the labor force. The economy added 38,000 jobs — roughly a quarter of what economists predicted — and three times less than the 123,000 jobs it generated in April.
Clinton called the drop in employment “a big problem” but blamed the economic environment on “the failed Republican policies” before Obama.
“We don’t have enough jobs in America with rising incomes to provide hardworking Americans with the kind of purpose, dignity and rising standard of living that we deserve here in our country,” Clinton said. “I think President Obama inherited a terrible situation.”
Without criticizing Obama’s role in May’s unemployment rate, Clinton stressed the urgency of improving the economy.
“This is one of those moments — and we’ve had them in the past in our country — where the government has to step in, and do more to create the environment and the incentives and the funding, so we get those jobs,” Clinton said.
She warned that a Donald Trump presidency would put America “into a recession again” and promised that as president, she would produce infrastructure jobs.
“We need to fund more infrastructure jobs. We need to come together to encourage the private sector. That’s why I’m supporting a national infrastructure bank,” Clinton said.
Obama praised his economic achievements Wednesday ahead of Friday’s harsh job report and blamed criticism of the economy on the media.
“I mean, we have been hearing this story for decades: tales about welfare queens, talking about takers, talking about the ’47 percent’. It’s the story that’s broadcast every day on some cable news stations, on right wing radio. It’s pumped into cars and bars and VFW halls all across America, and right here in Elkhart,” he said during a speech in Elkhart, Indiana.
